


Until The Day We Die

by TempoDreams



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Game Personalities (New Dangan Ronpa V3), Pregame Personality Au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-06 13:59:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14058486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TempoDreams/pseuds/TempoDreams
Summary: Have you ever thought about how this world was rotten? Because it definitely is. And somehow, it became even more disgusting. But it's also... pretty funny. How illogical this situation is. Almost like a TV show, or just a stupid game for teenagers.Now tell me, who are we to be worth of that filthy game of life and death ?(An au where instead of the killing game with talented students, the characters from NDRV3 kept their personality from the pregame.)





	1. Who are you?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! ^^ You either know me from my tumblr blog @tempodreams or you just discovered this fic when searching on ao3. Either way, welcome to it! My tumblr's followers probably know how big of a project it was and maybe even knew that I originally didn't intended it to be a Fanfiction. But here we are! After struggling to get an ao3 account I finally did it and now I can let you enjoy it to the fullest !  
> It evolved a lot during the process, but for those who didn't knew about it before discovering this fic, I would actually advise you to don't check my blog as it would contain spoiler for the rest of the fic. I also don't want anyone in the comment section to spoil what will happen next when another chapter is post or if you know my blog for the ones who don't know about it. If you want to give me any advices about my writing I will gladly accept them!  
> Also : English is not my native language, if you ever see a grammar mistake anywhere : please tell me so that I can improve myself. Anyway I won't keep you any longer, enjoy !

TWlzdGVyIFhYWFhYWFhYWCwgd2UgYXJlIGdsYWQgdG8gYW5ub3VuY2UgdG8geW91IHRoYXQgeW91IHdlcmUgY2hvc2VuIHRvIGJlIGEgcGFydCBvZiB0aGUgbmV3IHNlYXNvbiBvZiBEYW5nYW5yb25wYSEgVGhpcyBzZWFzb24gd2lsbCBiZSBuYW1lZCBOZXcgRGFuZ2Fucm9ucGEgdjMgS2lsbGluZyBIYXJtb255LiBXZSBpbnRlbmQgdG8gbWFrZSBpdCBvbmUgb2YgdGhlIG1vc3QgbWVtb3JhYmxlIHNlYXNvbiBvZiB0aGUgd2hvbGUgRGFuZ2Fucm9ucGEgZnJhbmNoaXN-lIGFuZCBmb3IgdGhhdCB3ZSBuZWVkIHlvdXIgaGVscC4gV2UgYXJlIGluZGVlZCBhd2FyZSBvZiBYWFhYIFhYWFhYWFg-gYW5kIHRoZSBmYWN0IHRoYXQgaXQgY29udHJhaW5zIHlvdSBhIGxvdC4gQnV0IG91ciB3ZSBrbm93IHRoYXQgeW91IGFyZSBhIHJlbWFya2FibGUgcGVyc29uIHdpdGggYSBoaWdoIElRIGFuZCB5b3UgbWFuYWdlZCB0byBYWFhYWFggWFhYWFhYWFgg-WFhYWCBYWCBYWFhYWFggZm9yIHRoaXMga2lsbGluZyBnYW1lLiBZb3UgYXJlIHNhZGx5IGFic29sdXRlbHkgdW5rbm93biBmcm9tIHRoZSBvdXRzaWRlIHdvcmxkLiBCdXQgaGVyZSBpcyB3aGF0IHdlIHByb3Bvc2UgdG8geW91LCB5b3UgY2FuIGNob29zZSBYWFggcGVyc29ucyB0byBjcmVhdGUgd2l0aCB5b3UgWFhYIFhYWFhYWFhYIFhYWFhYWFhYIGFuZCBiZSBvb-mUgb2YgdGhlIG1vc3QgaW1wb3J0YW50IHBhcnQgb2YgdGhlIG5ldyBkYW5nYW5yb25wYSEgTWlzdGVyLCB3ZSBjYW4gYXNzdXJlIHlvdSBpdCdzIHRoZSBwZXJmZWN0IG9wcG9ydHVuaXR5IHRvIFhYWFggWFhYIFhYWCBYWFggWFhYWFhYWFhY-IFhYWCBYWFhYWFhYLiBZb3UgYXJlIHdheSB0b28gaW1wb3J0YW50IHRvIGlnbm9yZSB0aGlzLiANCldlIGdpdmUgeW91IHRoZSBjaG9pY2UgbWlzdGVyIDogYWJhbmRvbmluZyB0aGlzIHdvcmxkIGFuZCBkaWUgYWxvbmUgb3IgYmVpbmcgWFhYIFhYWCBYWFhYWCBYWFhYWFhYWC4NCldlIGF3YWl0IHlvdXIgYW5zd2VyIHdpdGggZ3JlYXQgYW50aWNpcGF0aW9uLg0KDQpYWFggWFhYWCBYWCBYWFhYWA==

(Okay, author notes here ! Since some of you have noticed it was written in base64 as an artistic choice. But since it's a "prologue" and that some people are confused here, I'll just post the translation. Big thanks to the ones who took the time to decode it in the comment section before I make that edit! ^^)

Mister XXXXXXXXX, we are glad to announce to you that you were chosen to be a part of the new season of Danganronpa! This season will be named New Danganronpa v3 Killing Harmony. We intend to make it one of the most memorable season of the whole Danganronpa franchise and for that we need your help. We are indeed aware of XXXX XXXXXXX and the fact that it contrains you a lot. But our we know that you are a remarkable person with a high IQ and you managed to XXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XX XXXXXX for this killing game. You are sadly absolutely unknown from the outside world. But here is what we propose to you, you can choose XXX persons to create with you XXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX and be one of the most important part of the new danganronpa! Mister, we can assure you it's the perfect opportunity to XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXXXXXXXX XXX XXXXXXX. You are way too important to ignore this.   
We give you the choice mister : abandoning this world and die alone or being XXX XXX XXXXX XXXXXXXX.  
We await your answer with great anticipation.

XXX XXXX XX XXXXX


	2. Ultimate Revival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, here's a real beginning. For those of you who couldn't decode the pre-prologue it was made in base64 ! ^^ Some peoples decoded it in the comment section if you're too lazy. Check it out ! ^^   
> Also you'll noticed that I used some of the official dialogue that were present in the main game for this prologue, but if you're worried about that : it'll probably be the only time I'll do that.  
> Now appreciate this really long prologue.

Nothing. No light. No sound. No form. No voice. No knowledge of who I am. … Who I am? Who am I? I extend a hand. A hand that belongs to no one. To take hold of my existence – I open a what seems to be a locker. This is me. My name is Kaede Akamatsu. I just remembered who I am. Nice to meet… me. I’m the protagonist of this crazy story. ~~But for real this time…~~

I stumbled out of the locker in a daze. But as soon as I did… I fell on the floor.

“Ahh!?” I couldn’t even brace for impact as blinding pain suddenly rushed through my head. “Gghhh… Owww…” But thanks to that pain, I went from dazed to annoyed real quick. “… Huh? Wait, where am I? What is this place?” I rubbed my throbbing forehead. Yep, this is definitely going to leave a bump… I looked around. “…A classroom?”

Yeah, this is a classroom alright. But… I don’t recognize it.

“Where am I…? What am I doing here…? Oh! Is this a dream!? I just have to pinch myself, right?” So I pinched my cheek… but all that did was make my head hurt in two places instead of one. “Ummm… Okay, hold on a sec. Let’s just stay calm and think this through.”

Confused as I was, I tried to remember how I ended up here. But no matter how hard I tried in the end I just couldn’t— I loud sound cut me off in my train of thoughts.

“Whoa!!!”

Suddenly, the locker next to mine started swaying and shaking, making all kinds of noise. As I fearfully turned around, the locker door slowly opened, and a boy came stumbling out.

“Hnnng…” he groaned. A normal boy dressed in a school uniform… in fact, he might be a high school student, too. He looked bewildered, and when he slowly lifted his head… He screamed as if he’d just seen a monster, fell on his butt, and scooted back. “Wh-who are you!? Are you with those other guys!?”

“… What other guys?”

“The people who kidnapped me!”

“Kidnapped?”

“Wh-Where am I…? What are you gonna do to me!?”

“Hey! Hold on!” I firmly gripped his shoulders. "What’s your name?” I asked.

“…Huh? Ah, I’m…” he took a moment before finally saying it. “Shuichi Saihara”

“I’m Kaede Akamatsu. Now listen to me, Saihara… Shut up! You’re not the only one who’s confused right now!”

“Ah, sorry…”

After making him shut up, I retraced my steps again. “That’s right… I was kidnapped, too! I was walking my usual route to school when all of a sudden, someone shoved me into a car. I shouted for help, but no one came to rescue me… Everyone pretended like nothing happened… It made me think how rotten the world is…” I said the last sentence in a murmur. “And then, I lost consciousness… And when I woke up, I was inside that locker…”

“Same with me… Were we kidnapped by the same people?”

“It seems like it… But… Why me? My family’s not rich and I’m no one special. I’m just a normal high school girl. There’s no reason to kidnap me…” If we weren’t two, I would’ve understand, but now… It was a complete illogical situation.

“Me either… I’m just a regular guy…” said Saihara. “And… This is a school, right? Why did they take us to a school?”

“I wonder why…”

I started to wonder in the classroom, checking the desks and windows. Nothings seemed weird about it, except the sci-fi aura and the barbed wires on the windows. Is it to trapped us? Was the classroom closed and Saihara and I were unable to leave this room? It’s not the thought would repulse me but the fact of being locked in a classroom for maybe several days without water or food was worrying me. And to confirm my worst thoughts: my phone had disappeared. I also saw a monitor on the ceiling. What was that for? They were speakers and a screen, was that to talk to us somehow? To check on us? I went back to Saihara to talk to him.

“Anyway, let’s just stay calm and think” What I just said was in complete contradiction with what my brain was telling me to do. “I’m sorry I shouted at you earlier.”

“Ah, no, it’s okay… I shouldn’t have yelled at you. Anyway, this place is… weird. You don’t think we got caught up in something bad, do you?”

“Something bad…” Something worse than before?

What’s going on? What have we gotten ourselves into? I looked at the door. Where am I? Why was I kidnapped? Who kidnapped me? I don’t understand this at all. But that doesn’t matter! At least, for now…

“Hey, let’s just get out of here as fast as we can and find some help!” I said, my heart was beating fast.

“Y-Yeah… Good idea!”

We ran as fast as we could to the classroom door and opened it with all our strength. The door opened without any resistance and we went outside of the classroom. We were now in an empty hallway covered in… grass? I looked around. Definitely a school hallway but… there was grass everywhere and ivies on the walls. The building looked at the same time in ruined and completely new. It was unsettling and beautiful. But I didn’t have the time to thought about that. Saihara was already running towards the stairs.

“Are you coming?” he asked me.

“Of course!” I joined him and went down the stairs.

The hallways were empty. So, we were free to run as much as we wanted to. After a while of running around everywhere we saw someone at the corner of one of the hallways. When we approached them, we saw a boy, probably a little bit older than us. He had green hair styled weirdly, his shirt was opened way too much for me and he seemed to act relax but we could feel the tension surrounding him. He turned his head towards us. I stood next to Saihara, ready to face anything who would come.

“So, you were kidnapped too?” said the pretty boy.

“Too? Were you also kidnapped?” asked Saihara.

“Yes, and as I can see you were too.” He sighed. “So now we are three, there’s probably more people like us here. Do you mind if I join you? All the doors leading outside are locked.”

“You checked them all?” I asked.

“Of course, well, at least I think so.”

I took a look at Saihara, he nodded. “You can come with us.” I said. “How long have you been awake?”

“Probably around twenty minutes I think, they took my watch so it’s hard to tell.”

I nodded while walking forward. If what he said was true, then we should explore this place first. “Did you see anyone here besides us?” asked Saihara.

“No, you are the first persons I met here. By the way my name is Rantarou Amami, nice to meet you I guess.”

“Yeah. I’m Shuichi Saihara and this is Kaede Akamatsu” I just shook my head as a greeting.

We walked a bit more until we arrived into a big space who seemed to be the entrance of the school. When I noticed the giant doors, I ran towards them and tried to open them, but they were locked. It seemed that Amami was right. I was ready to open it with my shoulder until I heard another voice.

“Excuse me, do you know where we are?”

It was a smooth voice, like it was belonging to some kind of supernatural creatures. But also, somehow muffled like it was pronounced in front of a wall. I turned around to see Saihara and Amami face to face with two other persons. A young man with a girl hanging to his arm. He had a long black hair like Japanese dolls and was wearing a mask, he likely seemed to be the provider of the voice. The girl next to him had long brown hair tied in two pigtails. Her eyes seemed empty, like she wasn’t feeling anything.

“Were you kidnapped too?” asked Amami in response.

The other guy nodded. “So, we are 5 in the same situation right now. Oh, excuse me, I didn’t introduce myself. I am Korekiyo Shinguuji, 2nd grade in high school. Come on Maki, introduce yourself too.”

“Maki Harukawa, 2nd grade.”

“It’s nothing.” Responded Amami, he seemed to have taken the lead of this conversation. “I’m Rantaro Amami, 1st year of university.”

“A first year in university?” I asked. “Are you gifted or just a pervert that likes to wear high school uniform?”

“At least I’m not wearing a girl’s one. And I can assure you I would likely prefer to wear something else.”

“I’m Shuichi Saihara, 1st year of high school.” Cut Saihara, probably to relieve the nonexistent tension.

“Yeah. I’m Kaede Akamatsu, 2nd year of high school too.”

“Nice to meet you three.” Said Shinguuji. “Unless you are our ravisher… But it seems unlikely. At least I’m glad we aren’t alone in this situation. Isn’t that right Maki?” She nodded.

We were about to continue this conversation until we heard a scream coming from the opposite hallway. A glance between all of us was enough to agree on running to the source of the sound. When we arrived, we found a young boy down the stairs, he was rubbing the back of his head with a painful face. Another boy was standing next to him, probably helping him.

“Are you an idiot or what?! That’s why I told you it was a bad idea to run! And now you’re hurt! Are you stupid ?!” scolded the bigger boy. He had long hair and glasses. He also seemed to be pretty build up. In comparison, the other boy was definitely more fragile and short. He had a pale face messy black and purple hair. He made a nervous laugh and with a shaky voice as he responded.

“Sorry…”

“Don’t say sorry! You are hurt!” They seemed to notice our presence.

The shorter one got up quickly. “Are you our…?!” he started until I cut him off.

“No.”

“Oh… Okay sorry. It’s just… We woke up in those lockers and then…”

“Don’t worry, it’s the same thing for us.” Said Amami while I was worrying about how the tall one could have fit into a locker. “More importantly, are you two okay? What happened?”

“He fell down the stairs!” almost screamed the taller one.

“I told you that I’m alright and sorry for that!” tried to refute the other.

“Well, now that we are sure everything is ‘alright’, why not introduce yourselves?” said Shinguuji as he proceeded to introduce himself followed by Maki.

“Ah right! I’m Kokichi Ouma, 3rd grade in high school.”

“I’m Gonta Gokuhara, 1st grade in high school.”

“Did you invert your grades or…?” I started until I was cut off by Gokuhara the same way I cut off Ouma.

“No.”

“Okay, alright.”

If the fact that Saihara was younger than me didn’t shocked me that much the fact that the other midget was older than me was bothering me more, but I ignored the thought as I walked down the stairs. It seemed those stairs leaded to some kind of undergrounds, it was dark. I stopped in the middle of my way down while Shinguuji and Harukawa went first. I was soon joined by Saihara. He seemed bothered by something.

“Is everything alright?” I asked.

“There’s something bugging me actually… But I’m not sure about what it is. It’s probably just a hunch.”

“In this situation I’m willing to accept anything honestly.”

“I’ll tell you later about it when all of the captives are her.”

“You think there’s more of us?”

“Definitely.” Said Amami who had suddenly appeared behind me. I almost had a heart attack. “We are 5 boys for 2 girls, if we follow some kind of logic, there should at least be 3 other girls.”

“That’s a weird logic.” I replied.

“If I told you the real reasons why I think there are more of us you wouldn’t believe me. But I didn’t know you thought that too Saihara-kun.”

“Like I said, it’s just a hunch… But somehow… It feels like I knew this even before.”

“You knew this before coming here ?!” I asked.

“I’m not sure, my mind is hazy right now. Let’s just say it’s a hunch.”

I agreed, and we got down the stairs. As I thought, it was dark. Only the light coming from the stairs could allowed us to see the hallway. The grass stopped where the light did, so the hallway was only made of concrete, or metal? I wasn’t sure. Korekiyo was walking in front of us and he opened a big door made of wood. We entered the “room”. It was a giant library, books were almost everywhere. I tried to ignore the little voice in my mind telling me to just punch one of the book stack and concentrate on the main subject.

A girl from our age was standing in front of one of the bookcase. She had long blue hair and glasses. She seemed lost in her thought. I took a look on the bookcase. All the books here were from different language, there were some in Japanese but most of them were from language I didn’t knew how to read.

“Chinese, Korean, Russian, French, Spanish, German… There’s absolutely everything here.” Suddenly said Amami.

“You can read them? That’s impressive!” admired Ouma.

“Not all of them, but I know some words yes.”

The girl hasn’t moved at all. I approached her and tap her shoulder to call her. She didn’t move at all. I was ready to stomp on her feet when she moved them to avoid the accident.

“No need to go that far to get my attention you know?” she said before looking back at the bookshelves. “I thought I could have find something interesting here, but it seems that it won’t be the case. Anyway, I guess you were all kidnapped too right? My name is Tsumugi Shirogane, 3rd year.”

We proceeded to all introduce ourselves, surprised by how Shirogane was actually talkative. “Thanks.” She said when everyone had finished. “I guess I will join you all then, since nothing here could get my attention.”

And that's how we went from 7 students to 8 students. After that we got out of the library through the other door who leaded to a dead end. The one we could see when we got down the stairs. Gokuhara tried to open the door in front of us.

“It’s stuck or locked.” He said.

We didn’t try to think too much about it and went to the other door in the same hallway as the first door of the library. As we opened it Ouma rushed in an excited look on his face. When I came in I understood why, the room was an arcade one. They were arcades machines everywhere. But as the ivies and disappointed look on Ouma said when he tried to activate one of them, nothing could work.

He sighed. “Too bad… It was from my favorite game…”

“Yeah.” Replied another voice. It was deep.

When I turned my head to see where the sound came from I noticed a boy even shorter than Ouma but definitely our age.

He smiled sadly. “I wished I was able to play it again too. Sorry if I surprised you all, my name is Ryoma Hoshi, 3rd grade.”

We all introduced ourselves.

“By the way, are you alone here?” Amami asked.

“Oh no, there’s…” He was cut off by a loud vulgar voice.

“GOD FUCKING DAMNIT! I was almost done you SON OF A BITCH!”

A girl covered in dust came out from one of the machine while coughing. She had a popular girl look but didn’t seemed like one. She cleaned the dust on her before looking at us. She raises a hand.

“Sup guys. I was just trying to repair one of the machines.” Silence. “Okay I didn’t make the PRETTIEST entrance. Don’t blame me please. My name’s Miu Iruma, 2nd year, nice to meet y’all. And you don’t need to re-introduce yourselves I heard y’all.”

“Okay…” I responded, pretty surprised by her way of talking. “That’s all there is here?”

“Oh nah.” Replied Iruma. “There’s the strawberry.”

“The strawberry?”

To answer my question, Iruma opened the door in the back of the room and a girl came out stumbling. She was visibly hearing our conversation from behind the door. She gave Iruma an annoyed gaze.

“That’s the strawberry.” Said Iruma, probably referring to the girl’s bright red hair.

“If you call me strawberry one last time I assure I’m going to cut your hands and your tongue.” Replied the red headed girl.

“Come on, you know you have to introduce yourself too!”

“Don’t talk to me like you are my mother!” She sighed and then got up.

“I’m Himiko Yumeno, 3rd grade.”

Is there someone who looks their age here?! I thought while everyone was coming out of the room. Since there was nothing left on this floor we all decided to check the other side of the building, without forgetting to check the still locked entrance door. We found the dining hall, but it was empty. Then we checked the storage room. After a while searching between the shelves we heard Iruma trying to get our attentions.

“Hey! I found another guy!”

“No need to shout…” replied the new one. This was a boy pretty tall, with a goat and a relaxed look (and by that, I mean a normal relax look, not like Amami who was just a sexy relax look but that’s beside the point). He seemed to have used a lot of hair gel for his haircut. “I’m Kaito Momota, 2nd grade. So, there are other people that were kidnapped here huh?”

We all nodded.

“That’s really uncool… Any idea who could that be?”

“Not right now.” Said Saihara. “We are still searching if there are other people like us here.”

“’Kay. So, we are…” He started to count us. “12 for now. That’s a lot of people… You are sure there are more?”

“Well…” Saihara didn’t know what to say but when I took a look at Amami I could see that he was probably the only one here who could tell if there was more of us or not. “We are never sure. Let’s just keep searching for now.”

As we said that our group got out of the storage room. As we passed again in the hallway, Iruma stopped us and told us to wait in front of the bathrooms. She then held my arms and forced me into the girl’s bathrooms.

“What the hell are you doing ?!”

“I prefer to don’t be alone, there’s maybe someone here.”

“Like hell someone would be…!” I stopped myself when I actually realized that the probability that someone was in the bathrooms was actually higher than I would have thought about. It’s probably the safest place here.

Iruma started to inspect each toilet cabin until with a triumphal exclamation she noticed that one of the cabin was locked. She started to knock at the door.

“Hey! Come out! We won’t do anything to you!” No response. “Weird. I thought there was someone.” Iruma get herself on her knees and looked under the door with her head half leaning on the floor. “Ah! Shoes! Pretty fancy. Hey come out!” She leaned her head further. “What’s this uniform I don’t know it….”

I heard a squeal coming from behind the cabin’s door until it suddenly opened, slamming Iruma’s head violently. She put her hands to her forehead while groaning in annoyance. I looked at the person in the cabin’s. It was a short girl with a dark skin and a fancy uniform, like Iruma stated. She wanted to runaway but Iruma leaning on the floor was blocking her and I could saw her eyes going from Iruma to me in an endless cycle.

“WHAT THE GODDAMN FUCK?!” shouted Iruma. “THAT FUCKING HURT BITCH!”

The girl took a step back due to her surprise. I noticed she was holding a rosary and whispering some kind of pray. I ignored Iruma on the floor and approached her.

“Hey… It’s alright. We aren’t going to hurt you.” I tried to make my voice the calmer possible to put the other girl at ease. “You… You were kidnap too, weren’t you?”

She froze, looking into my eyes deeply. It was kind of unsettling. She nodded vigorously. I smiled.

“We are too. We are as dumbfounded as you by this situation. There’s other people outside, we won’t hurt you. I swear. You…” I couldn’t believe what I said next. “You can trust us.”

Iruma sat on the floor. “Yup, exactly like Akamatsundere said. Sorry if I scared you.”

“Akama…?!”

I ignored what Iruma said and got back to my conversation with the other girl. “So, it’s alright okay?”

She rushed into my arms before I could even react while crying. “I was… I was so scared!”

I put my arms around her hoping to reassure her at the same time. Iruma stroke her hair.

“It’s alright! I’m Miu Iruma by the way, 2nd grade in high school. Nice to meet ya!”

“And I’m Kaede Akamatsu, 2nd year too.”

The girl got away from my arms and wiped her tears. “I’m Angie Yonaga, I think I’m a first year of high school in japan.”

“You think?” asked Iruma.

“Yes, I’m… only half-japanese. I actually live in California.”

“Oh ma gawd… A real Californian girl… That’s so cool!”

Angie smiled shyly, and we got out of the bathrooms. Iruma made a v sign to the group while I still had an arm around Yonaga’s shoulders.

“So, there was someone in the bathrooms…” said Amami.

“You knew it?” I asked.

“I heard some noises coming from the girl’s bathrooms indeed. But since it was the girl’s bathroom…”

“You didn’t want anyone to know about your weird interest huh?”

“For the last time I’m not a pervert, Akamatsu-san, please.”

“Anyway… The entrance door is open.” Said Korekiyo. “We checked it with Maki while you were busy.”

We ran towards the entrance door and opened it without any hesitation. But what was welcoming us outside was…

“Holy shit…” whispered Iruma next to me.

We were into a giant cage. Not into another building, no, a giant cage. It was almost touching the sky with how high it was and it seemed as it completely covered almost a whole town. The sky was blue. Almost welcoming without the cage. But there was this thing who reminded us that we were trapped.

“HOLY SHIT!!!” screamed Iruma again.

“That’s not possible…” whispered Yumeno.

“HEY! IS SOMEBODY IS HEARING US?!” shouted Momota to the sky.

“It’s useless.” I said. “This cage almost covers a whole town. Maybe farther away someone could hear us… But definitely not outside this area…”

I gritted my teeth. I also wanted to scream, but right now I knew that the only thing that would make is that it would hurt my throat. It almost felt like… despair was swallowing us.

“But if there’s an outside. That means that we are probably not alone here, right?” suddenly said Ouma. “We only searched into the school. So, there’s obviously people here. We should search for them!”

Yonaga nodded. “His right! Maybe we will even find an exit!”

“Yeah… YEAH! Let’s go!” shouted Momota.

And as fast as the despair came hope replaced it. We started searching around the area for other persons like us. After a while, Ouma and Yonaga came out from a circular building.

“Hey guys! I think we know how many we are!” shouted Ouma to reunited us. We rushed into the building. It seemed like it was a dormitory and, on the plate, there was…

“It’s… us.” Said Shirogane. “Yes… That’s us!”

“They planned to keep us during a long time.” Said Saihara.

“How many dorms?” asked Korekiyo.

“Sixteen.” Answered Ouma.

From the corner of my eyes I could see Amami getting paler. “Amami, are you alright?” I asked.

“I hope.” He replied. That wasn’t really reassuring.

After checking all the identical rooms to see if anyone was here, we got out of the dorms, hoping to never come here again. But when we got out of the dorms we faced someone we didn’t knew. It was a boy our age, with white hair and a pale skin. He was wearing gloves and a cap with his gakuran. He didn’t seem surprised to see us.

“Hello. You are probably the kidnapped people here, aren’t you?” said the boy in an almost electronic voice.

We tensed up, ready to react to anything. Maybe he was… “Hey fuckboy you’re too tensed up, chill a bit.” Said Iruma.

I felt like absolutely everyone in the group wanted to strangle her. But the boy in front of us remain calm.

“Sorry if I scared you. My name is Kiibo Iidabashi. I’m in first grade of high school and I, as well as you all, have been kidnapped myself. My apologies if my sentence wasn’t clear.”

We let our guard down a bit. Iruma approached the boy. “See! If you are too tensed up they won’t understand! Anyway, welcome to the team Iida!”

What? No nickname? Just Iida? It seems that there are some preferences in this group. I thought while Iidabashi joined our group. “Please, I would prefer if you just call me Kiibo. It feels uncomfortable when people call me by my last name.”

“Okay, go for Kiibo.”

Ah now it’s not even a nickname but simply his name. Now that we were 14, only two people were remaining left to found. As a response to our thought we heard a loud sound coming from the small path. Like usual we went to the source of the sound without even thinking. At the exact moment we arrived we saw a girl of our age doing a backflip to get on her leg as she was about to fall off the stairs. Her long black hair flying around her as she put her feet to the ground to keep her balance. She lifts her heads up allowing us to see her green eyes.

“That was close…” she whispered.

“Woah…” said Ouma.

That was probably what everyone was thinking right now. The girl turned around a small smile on her face. “Well thank you!” She then seemed to suddenly notice that we weren’t here before. She smiled even wildly as she approached us and hold each of our hands for a second. “Were you kidnap too?! Obviously, you all look you are my age! I’m so glad I’m not alone here! My name is Tenko Chabashira! I’m in 1st year of high school! Nice to meet you all!”

“Nice… to meet you.” I said quietly, kind of surprised by her enthusiast reaction. But at the same time glad that she wasn’t our enemy, she looked like she could break my neck in a second.

I looked at how she shaked the hands of each of our comrades and how her gaze became more intense when looking at Yumeno, which seemed to have noticed it since she ignored the handshake and turned her head around.

“Do you know if there’s someone else here?” asked Saihara. “We think that we are 16 and now that we 15…”

“Yes, I saw the dorms! I think I saw someone entering the small garden on the back of the yard.” She answered while pointing the little building covered in ivies on the end of the “campus”.

We all walked to the gardens and entered it. It was a small area, pretty beautiful if we ignored the weird statue in the middle. There were roses almost everywhere and bench of white marble. On one of those bench a girl was sitting there. She almost seemed like one of those nobles you see in the books with her natural grace. Even her hair hiding of her eyes didn’t alternate in any way her straight figure. She noticed us with a small movement of her eyes and in a graceful way, as much as her appearance she stood up and turned around to face us.

“Nice to meet you. Excuse me, are you familiar with this place?”

Some of us shook their head in negation, too hypnotized by her whole attitude to say anything. Even Iruma had shut her loud mouth.

“I see… My name is Kirumi Tojo. I’m in 3rd year of high school. I guess you are all in high school too, am I’m right?”

Most of us nodded while Saihara and myself pointed Amami. “He is actually in 1st year of university.” He blushed a bit, probably hoping that no one would question his clothing. Which didn’t happen, probably to his relief.

“Fine. Does any of you have any clue about why we are all gathered here?”

“Absolutely none.” Answered Saihara, he seemed to have gotten out of the trance that Tojo was gazing.

“But we are all complete now and that’s for sure.” Completed Amami, who actually never seemed to have been affected by the trance in any way, what was he? Gay? Before anyone could say anything else, we suddenly heard a loud sound.

*Ding Dong Bing Bong*

“What was that… a bell?” I said.

When I turned my head to look at where the sound came from I saw a monitor with megaphones.

“Mic check… 1 2 1 2… Here we go! Hum hum… This is school announcement, please gather all into the gym ASAP! This is a school announcement, please gather all into the gym ASAP!” suddenly said an annoying voice.

We all went silent again, but of fear this time. That definitely wasn’t a normal voice. And definitely not a nice voice. We were complete, so it probably was…

“Our ravisher…” silently said Saihara.

“What do we do?” asked Tsumugi.

“We have to go, obviously.” Answered Gokuhara.

“What a pain…” replied Yumeno.

There wasn’t any choice anymore. We didn’t know what would’ve happened if we didn’t listen to what he has to say. We all walked together to the gymnasium. It was far away from the garden, so we could all think about what will happen. Will he kill us? Will he ask us something that we don’t want to do? A thousand of possibilities rushed through my head as we arrived.

We opened the door. The gymnasium was empty, we entered. After a few moments, a voice echoed into the gym.

“Okayyyyy, quiet everyone! Shimmy down, shimmy down!”

“No, no, no. It’s “simmer down.” Replied another voice.

“Huh? Who’s that? Where are they?” Asked Shirogane.

And suddenly, without a warning, five giant robots appeared in front of us. They all had different color: a green, a yellow, a red, a pink and a blue one.

“Kyahahahahaha! Thanks for bearing with us!” laughed the blue one.

Shirogane screamed, pretty much like everyone actually.

“Damn it! Those are monsters!” yelled Momota. “We’re surrounded!”

“These aren’t monsters.” Replied the red robot. “They’re Exisals.”

“They’re highly mobile, bipedal weapons platforms.” Added the yellow one.

“Weapons!?” Replied Saihara.

“Should we take these for a spin by killin’ one of ‘em!?” exclaimed the blue exisal.

“Gyaaaaahhh!!! Wait a minute!” Shouted Chabashira with shocked. “It wouldn’t be any fun picking on plain, good-for-nothing commoners!”

“You’re right. We should at least think of an interesting way to kill you. Maybe I’ll pick ya up and squeeze ya till your guts come gushin’ out like toothpaste!”

“P-Please! Not like toothpaste!”

I wanted to tell her that she didn’t denied the fact that he could still kill us but with the situation I decided to keep my mouth shut.

“Urgh… I just imagined it.” Complained the pink exisal. “I can’t handle gore.”

“Then what if… we start peelin’ off their limbs one by one, like string cheese?” said the Yellow exisal.

“Please, not like string cheese either!” Yelled Chabashira with an even more shocked face… how was she able to that? And more importantly she still forgot to deny the most important part!

“Wait! We can’t kill them with the Exisals.” Cut the red exisal. Yeah… So that you can kill us with another thing, good idea. “According to the schedule, the Exisals aren’t supposed to show up till later!”

“But…we’re in the Exisals right now.” Replied the yellow exisal.

“Oh! So we are!”

“We screwed up. We’re not supposed to be in the Exisals for our first appearance.” Said the pink Exisal.

“I told ya we shoulda read the script!” Shouted the blue exisal.

“…No, ya didn’t.” Replied the yellow exisal.

“Well…why don’t we just get out of these mechs? It shouldn’t be too late for that.” Proposed the pink exisal.

“Y-yeah! Let’s do that!” agreed the red one. “Okay, readyyyy!”

And suddenly, 5 bears, one side white,& the other with the color corresponding to their exisals, came out of the Exisals with a stupid music in the background and saying their names at the same time.

“Rise and shine, ursine!” They all said. “With our powers combined, we are the Monokubs!”

We could only stare dumbfounded by the absurdity and the stupidity of the scene in front of us. Just what the hell does that mean?

“See? We’re outta the Exisals.” Said seemingly worried Monotaro. “Now we’re not scary anymore, right? Right? Right!?”

“His desperation is strangely terrifying…!” Exclaimed Monophanie, a bear full of feminine cliché.

“You punkasses better brace yourselves!” Shouted Monokid, while playing a small electric guitar.

“And he’s just outright terrifying!”

“I’m a messenger from hell from the depths of hell, here to drag ya down to hell!”

“No, no, Monokid.” Replied Monosuke while putting his glasses in place. Did he had an accent or…?

“You’re sayin’ “hell” too much. It’s ruining the hellish impact!”

“Eh? What’s hellish mean?” asked Monotaro.

“H-Hey… what’s up with these stuffed animals? How are they moving?” Asked Momota.

“I-I have no idea.” Replied Shirogane.

“Moving stuffed animals…” Said Harukawa with a somehow… light voice? Does… Does she like it?

“On top of that, it seems like they’re calling themselves the “Monokubs.” Added Hoshi.

“You guys call yourselves the Monokubs?” I asked surprised to the green bear who still hadn’t say anything yet. I was answered with a silence.

“Oh… Don’t bother askin’ Monodam.” Said Monotaro. “He only talks to close friends. The years of abuse have really done a number on his heart. Isn’t that right, Monodam?” The bear didn’t reply. I kinda understood why… “M-Monodam! You won’t even open your heart…to me!?”

I took a look at Amami whose gazed had changed. “Looks like I was right.” He said calmly. “This is exactly what I thought it was. But who’s behind all this? Why the ridiculous theatrics…?”

“Gahhh! Shut up, you!” Cut Monokid. “All o’ you are reactin’ way too normally to this! It’s boring!” Normally? It’s called shocked you dumbass.

“Actually… don’t their clothes seem kinda boring, too?” asked Monotaro.

“Wait a minute… Ya think maybe they haven’t…?” Started Monosuke before being stopped by the lights of the gym being shut off.

“Now, now, now…” Echoed a voice through the gym. It wasn’t a voice that we knew in any way, and if it sounded like a mascot voice like the five in front of us, it also sounded more… evil. “My cute little cubs…” continued the voice. “You must be so lost right now…”

“Oh! That voice!” Exclaimed Monophanie.

“Father!? Father, is that you!?” shouted monotaro.

“Papa Kuma! Papa Kumaaaaa!” Yelled Monokid.

“Daddy!? Where are you, Daddy!?” continued Monophanie.

“D-Daddy?” I asked, confused.

They all ran to the stage an aligned themselves. The gym became even more darker somehow. And suddenly, through the lights of a projector… another bear appeared. He jumped out of some kind of pedestal with wings spreading in his back. And as he jumped he fell back on the pedestal and sit on it. The wings fell off his back as he finished his sentence. He was… seemingly eviler than the other five one. He was half white, and half black. The black side represented the same grin as the littles bears but the red eye changed everything. It was glowing through the darkness of his dark side, like an evil intent waiting to declare themselves.

“But don’t worry… Daddy’s here to explain everything.” Said the bear with the same untruthful voice as before.

“The bears have a father?!” shouted Momota, shock spreading through his face. Without context he could have been taken for an idiot but for now… That probably was what everyone was wondering right now.

“I am the god of this new world…” started the new bear. “…and the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy!”

“Academy…?” I heard Yumeno silently whispered.

“The one, the only… Monokuma!” conclude the bear. “Nice to meetcha!”

We were as dumbfounded as the time when the shorter bears came out of the exisals. Maybe even more. But as for the Monokubs…

“Yayyyyy! Father’s here!” Said with joy Monotaro.

“Hell yeah! Another epic entrance from Papa Kuma!” Yelled Monokid.

“Daddy is soooo cool.” Said Monophanie with a seductive voice.

Monodam… stayed silent. Almost afraid of the new bear… or Monokuma, like he called himself.

“My cute little cubs! You’re all so freakin’ cute!” grunted Monokuma with a positive voice but an angry face. “The only reason I can tolerate your stupidity is cuz you’re all so cute.”

“Pops… are you mad at us?” asked Monosuke, seemingly worried.

“Don’t be an idiot!” shouted Monokuma. “I would never get mad at my cute little cubs!”

“Gahhhh! He is mad!” Exclaimed Monokid in pure horror.

“But… Daddy is still cool even when he’s angry.” Said the Monophanie. Okay… If I understood well, he was her father. She REALLY needs to calm down with incest.

“Pops is from a planet of handsome bears that get cooler as they get angrier.” Added Monosuke. So it’s a family problem, guess I can’t do much about it.

“Super Monokuma, Super Monokuma 2, Super Monokuma 3, and finally Super Monokuma 4…” continued Monosuke as Monokuma was getting angrier and angrier.

And suddenly, with an attack coming from “who knows the anime” Monokuma blasted his five Monokubs while saying with a surprisingly calm voice for a face that was crisped by anger:

“How many times do I gotta say it!? I’m not MAD!!!”

Monotaro screamed before continuing to talk. “Father just transformed into a Super Monokuma God Super Monokuma!”

“That’s only possible when six Monokumas of pure heart are gathered together!” added Monophanie. I think I’ll stop thinking anything about this completely absurd situation.

“It’s the power you bust out when you really wanna fuck the world’s shit up!” Yelled Monokid.

“A power ya only see when the gods themselves do battle!” Ended (I hoped) Monosuke.

“Anyway.” Continued Monokuma, less angry now. “I’m really not mad. In fact, I gotta admit that I’m actually proud of you guys. You kids really stand out from the rest of the second-generation failures in the world.”

“Isn’t that a little harsh?” asked Monophanie. “I’m sure there are some second-generation success stories…”

“I can’t think of any, though…” Replied Monosuke. A

nd again, Monokuma punched them with another attack from another anime or video game references that I don’t get. “If you can’t think of any, it’s cuz there’s none worth remembering!” Answered Monokuma through his attacks.

“But Father remembers!” Replied Monotaro. “Cuz he knows everything!”

“Holy shit!” Exclaimed Monokid. “That’s right, Papa Kuma! You know all kinds of useless crap!”

“Cuz Daddy gets all his alternate facts from the most trusted names in fake news!” Added Monophanie.

Monokuma rested a bit to catch his breath. The old ages of parenting huh? He laughed a bit. “I love embracing my children! They’re so cute, I just can’t help myself!”

“Didn’t he just punch them several times?” asked Saihara next to me.

“Don’t ask, I don’t understand a single thing that’s happening right now.” I answered.

Monokuma kept talking, ignoring us. “Usually, ratings plummet when mascots appear in sequels too much… But in this case, ratings are through the roof! All thanks to the cute Monokubs!” Yes, the ultimate annoyance. But in the end, we were still completely unanswered about what was happening right now.

“What is this? What’s going on?” I finally said a bit louder so that Monokuma would hear me.

“Well it’s simple Akamatsundere.” Said Iruma. “We have a new teddy bear but this one is even more evil than the others.”

“Whoa… First of all, I’m no teddy bear.” Answered Monokuma, claws out. “I’m Monokuma. And show some respect! I’m the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles!”

“The headmaster?” asked Yonaga.

“The Ultimate Academy for… what?” added Ouma.

“It looks like a robot.” Said Kiibo.

“Dong dong dong!” said Monotaro with a happy face.

“The Exisals are different though! They’re brainless buckets of boits!” Added Monosuke. “They’re mindless pretty killing machines that can only be controlled by us, the Monokubs.”

“Okay! We got it!” Shouted Yumeno. “Now tell us what’s happening! The new emo bear was going to tell us!”

“I’m gonna ignore what you just said and continue…” grunted Monokuma.

“IT’S-A-KILLING-GAME.” Suddenly said a robotic voice coming from Monodam.

“WHAT?!” Shouted Monokid.

“IT’S-A-KILLING-GAME.” Repeated Monodam.

“A killing… game?” said Amami, getting even paler than before.

“What is that?” asked Hoshi. I was going to answer him with my little knowledge of the danger of the situation that we were in right now but Monokuma did it for me.

“Well, you’re just going to kill each other.”

We all froze, I couldn’t keep the nervous laugh that came out of my mouth. “Wh-What…?”

That was beyond all that I imagined. But somehow, way more logic. Isn’t that ironic? Killing each other? More logic? No. Nothing had any sense since I woke up in that god damn locker. I wanted to run but my legs were numb.

“What the fuck…?” said Iruma, adding to our mutual horror.

“Wasn’t I clear enough?” Asked Monokuma. “Killing each other. Do I need to be more specific? Poison, decapitate, electrocute, strangled, pushing someone, dismembered, slaughtered, smashing the head of someone, stabbed, hang someone, suffocated, burned alive, asphyxiate… Whatever ya want! That’s a killing game! Enjoy it!”

“Enjoy it?” Replied Momota. “THAT’S JUST SICK! There’s no way we would do something like that!”

“So, you want to spend the rest of your life here?”

“Spend… the rest of our lives?” repeated Yonaga.

“Well it’s simple, you are student at the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles. In this Academy, you either spend the rest of your life here doing absolutely nothing, or you kill someone to get outta here!”

“I don’t think we had the choice to be students at this academy.” Said Saihara.

“Well deal with it!” Yelled Monokuma in response.

“But Pops… Aren’t they…?” asked Monosuke.

“Oh, don’t worry about THAT. It’s a… last minute change.”

“A last minute changes? But… we weren’t informed!” said Monophanie.

“We don’t even have the new script!” added Monotaro.

“You don’t need it, I’m sure my cute little cubs will handle it easily.” Answered Monokuma in a sweet voice, but quickly switched to a menacing tone. “RIGHT?”

“Y-Yes!” Said Monotaro.

“Of course, Daddy!”

“No problemo!”

“Totally Pops!” All answered the Monokubs, as terrified as us.

“A script?” asked Amami who seemed to have regain some composure.

“That’s not the problem here.” Cut Yumeno. “I think the main problem is those bears!”

“Besides, how do you want us to kill each other?” asked Hoshi.

“That wasn’t my question and I don’t care about that!”

“What’s the fun in forcing commoners like us to kill each other like that?” asked Chabashira.

“Commoners… huh.” Whispered Toujo, but since she wasn’t too far from me I could hear it.

“Yeah! That doesn’t make any sense!” agreed Yumeno.

“Well… Find out for yourselves!” answered Monokuma.

“Maybe we could just beat them right there and get outta here no?” asked Momota. We all pointed at the Exisals to answer his question. “Ah, yeah, that.”

“Besides,” said Monokuma. “I think you all noticed the giant cage and wall surrounding you while being outside. There’s absolutely no escape.”

“And if we decide to don’t kill each other? Even if we live the rest of our life here there’s a high possibility that we won’t be bothered by that.” Asked Korekiyo.

“Don’t worry… I know you teenagers. After all I’m a father! You all are just so lusty for everything! Even for blood!”

“I… don’t think so.” Replied Shirogane.

“Also, you aren’t in the real world here, there aren’t the same rules here than in the real world. At home you can’t cut your mother hands but here it’s something that you’re able to do! Actually… as long as you don’t disturb the peace of the Killing game… every crime is perfectly acceptable… Except sexual crime! Teen pregnancy is the worst! Wait… It could give a good motive actually…”

“That’s fucking messed up…” said Iruma.

“Yup! The only rule is to don’t get caught while committing a murder! After that you will be able to get out easy easy!”

“The… only rule?” Said Yonaga.

“Actually, there’s more but I’m getting kinda tired right now so… Let’s say it’s not important!”

“No… We won’t…” started Amami. “We won’t participate in your stupid game! We won’t kill each other over a stupid game like that!”

“My my… You shouldn’t be thinking that, it’s bad for the mood… After all, you should be the one knowing that it’s useless. But I guess a little bit of a rebellion spirit is always good!” He laughed and then made a blank face. “Except coming from you it’s just boring.”

But he was the only one with that rebellious spirit, because we were all looking at each other’s right now. Searching for who to kill first or who will kill us. We were already into this killing game I guess. Maybe some of us will stay pacifist, others will act. That was actually pretty normal. But somehow… the simple fact that we probably all knew that someone would definitely kill someone else was probably the most terrifying thing. We were all gazing at each other. I saw Amami with a hopeless look on his face as he seemed to notice that we gave up on this game.

A killing game huh? That’s almost funny actually. The fact that people like us ended up in this stupid killing game. Almost unbelievable. What was our purpose? Nothing. After all…

Even if we pray, love, envy, give up, wait, try, act, protect, cry and simply live… What was the point?

Monokuma in front of us was just laughing his ass off. “Hope you enjoy your Killing School Semester everyone! Or should I say… despair?” His Monokubs laughed after him. It was a cacophony of laugh more stupid or evil than the others.

This was honestly messed up. An academy surrounding by a giant wall, 16 normal students trapped inside, mysterious stuffed bears and deadly weapons, and all of those high school students who barely just new each other… forced to plays some killing game. It felt like a perfectly normal show… Maybe a thriller… No… Just some normal teenager’s anime. Somehow no different from reality.

I let slide a smile without any joy on my face. Yeah… And now… I was part of this crazy universe. And you know what, even if I didn’t want to participate…

The least I can do is enjoying this sick game of life and death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While writing this prologue I suddenly understood why some people were annoyed by the Monokubs.  
> I hope it was clear enough for you, for a prologue. ^^ I really enjoyed writing it! Chapter 1 should come soon after that.  
> Thanks for reading it until the end! ^^


	3. The Manhole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey ! Guess who's back with a new chapter of her fanfiction? It's meeeeee ! Anyway, I wanted to thank a very special person : @spot-the-main-character on tumblr A.K.A. my beta-reader (because I hadn't had one before) who took the time to correct my most of mistakes in this chapter and was very helpful. So thanks again! Anyway, this chapters covers the first day of the students at the Academy. I tried to make it different from the original story but with the same plot line. So I hope it'll please you! Now... Let's go !
> 
> EDIT : From the returns of this chapter I decided to edit it! ^^ Also I'm sorry, I didn't show it to my beta-reader beforehand so if you notice new grammatical mistake please tell me! ^^ As some of you must know I'm not an english speaker since I'm french. So any help would be of great use! (I do trust my beta-reader without a doubt I can assure you. It's just that I was really impatient right now and that I couldn't wait anymore.) If you can tell me what you like and dislike about this edit tell me too! Any returns helps me a lot for my writing! Now... Good reading! ^^

It took us some time to start reacting. Monokuma and his damn kubs had left us alone in the gym with an electronic tablet that they called a Monopad. The only thing we could do now was checking the rules :

  1. Students are required to cohabitate at the Ultimate Academy for the remainder of the unforeseeable future.
  2. “Nighttime” is officially designated as the hours between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. During this time, the dining hall and the gymnasium are closed.
  3. All acts of violence toward Monokuma, the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy, are strictly prohibited.
  4. Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes “blackened” will graduate, unless they are discovered.
  5. Monokuma will never directly participate in a murder.
  6. Your Monopads are very important items. Make sure you do not damage them.
  7. Students have free rein to explore the Ultimate Academy as they see fit.
  8. Students who violate these rules will be exterminated with extreme prejudice by the Exisals.
  9. The headmaster may add additional regulations to this list at any time.



We were standing there, just waiting for someone to make a comment about the whole situation, Shirogane ended up being the first one to let slide her opinion.

“So… What now?”

“Well… There’s… this killing game going on.” Replied Gokuhara.

“That’s stupid.” Said Amami. “Is there anyone here really considering murder?”

We stayed silent for a moment before I opened my mouth to break the tension.

“Can’t say no. I mean… I don’t see the point of committing a murder, but there’s still a possibility. As for myself I would say that unless there’s a real motive, I wouldn’t do anything.”

“I have to agree with Akamatsu.” Said Yumeno. “I have no need to go back outside. And honestly murder would just be a pain in the ass.”

“Killing has no benefit for me or Korekiyo.” Said Maki suddenly in a mechanical voice.

“Yes.” Agreed Shinguuji.

I could see Amami’s mouth smile in relief, until someone else talk.

“But then… aren’t we able to become the victims of the killers if we aren’t one?”

We all turned to Toujo. It was hard to deny it when she had a point.

“Let me say it more clearly: to have a murder you need indeed a culprit, but you also need a victim for the culprit. If so, it’s not a matter of who is going to kill but who is going to be killed. And without sounding rude, there are… quite a few person’s here that would fit that role.”

Ouma, Yonaga and Yumeno tensed up, moving closer to each other. I sighed, this whole situation is going to be complicated.

“Um… Excuse me. But I think we overlooked something.” Suddenly said Saihara. We turned to face him this time, which clearly seemed to make him more nervous. “We thought about going out with murder… But… If we are here now, doesn’t that mean that there is an entrance? Then… it could also be an exit. Then, no one have to dies and we all go out. Does… that sound good?”

“…Sound good?” Replied Chabashira. “Saihara… It sounds amazing!”

“Yeah! I totally agree!” Said Momota. “This place is biiiiig… We should definitely search this place thoroughly!”

“I didn’t expect you to have such a vocabulary big boy!” Said Iruma while giggling.

“Shut up!”

“Anyway, then let’s check outside. There’s a bigger chance that we found something.” Said Amami.

And just like that everyone nodded to the idea and got outside of the gym. I was now alone with Saihara.

“Wow… Good job.” I said.

“No! It’s really nothing! I have just been thinking about it since Monokuma announced his killing game so… I thought it might be a good idea to bring it up before anything tragic happens.”

“Doesn’t mean nothing will happens.”

Saihara looked at me a little bit in silence before talking again.

“You… don’t believe in them, don’t you?”

“Why should I? I don’t know them. And before you have a misconception of me in your head… It’s the same thing for you. The fact that we woke up in the same room doesn’t make you different from them.”

I started to walk towards the exit to begin my research too, but I was stopped by Saihara soft voice.

“But you are.”

“What?”

“You feel different from them. I still don’t know why, but I can feel it.”

“What are you talking about, no one can feel this kind of thing.”

“Then let’s call it a hunch!”

He smiled at me and I just turned back towards the exit. Leaving him.

I couldn’t ignore what Toujo had say after all, she was right. Even I could be a victim. But I didn’t want to be a “blackened” too. I remembered how people had reacted when I was stuffed into the car… I couldn’t count on the outside world. That’s for sure. My real question was… why call it a game? If it was just about some murder… then how was it a game?

While I was thinking about all of that I finally arrived outside of the school. I could see a few people searching the area in front of me. I approached Kiibo who was checking a giant futurist door on a wall.

“So, did you find anything?” I asked.

“Well, there is this door. But I don’t…” he seemed to search for his words. “think. I don’t think it will lead us outside.”

“Why?”

“I checked the whole wall.” Said Iruma that had suddenly appeared next to us. “It’s not connected to the giant wall surrounding us, it’s just a big circle. But I did see that there were some kind of buildings within those. Maybe there is something.”

“I see. Thank you, Iruma-san.” Said Kiibo as an answer. He then approached the door and reached what seemed to be a cavity. “Maybe we need a key to open this door.”

“What kind of key has this appearance? I mean, with your thing.” Replied Iruma.

“Well, I’ll go check another area.” I said.

“Good luck, Akamatsu-san.” Said Kiibo before I went away.

I went to the stairs leading to the backyard and reached the small square that leaded the garden. Ouma, Yonaga and Amami were checking the area.

“Ah, Akamatsu-san. Did you find anything?” asked Amami when he saw me.

“Not specially, and you three?”

“Well…” Started Ouma while brushing some grass off his uniform. “I checked the very back but really nothing that could look like an exit. I just saw some locked spaces, but it seems we can’t access them.”

“As for myself.” Said Yonaga. “I didn’t find anything either. Just this weird statue.” She pointed at a statue of a child with a fox mask in some kind of anime poses.

We all looked at the statue silently waiting for something to happen, but as expected, nothing.

“So, nothing.” Ended up saying Ouma. “But I’m sure eventually something will show up!”

“Yes definitely, even if we didn’t find anything that doesn’t mean there is no exit!” Agreed Yonaga.

“Yeah! We’re not going to kill each other!”

“Totally!”

Wait… They don’t seem to be eager to find an exit but… Are they desperately trying to avoid what Kirumi had said about some people in the group being easier target? As I saw them searching more thoroughly I thought I had my answer and decided to leave.

In the end they weren’t a lot of things that I could try to search that no one had already checked. I decided to go behind the school when a running form bumped into me. I almost fell but used my foot as a balance to avoid it. The person in front of me seemed to have done the same. I lifted my head to look at them: Chabashira.

“Ouch… Sorry Akamatsu-san. I didn’t see you…” she said with a sorry look until her eyes widened a bit like she just remembered something. “But that’s not the point there! Look! There’s a big building, well big is maybe exaggerated, anyway, a building without a roof in the back of the school! You can access is via a red door on each side of this building. Please wait in there until I gathered everyone! We made a BIG discovery!”

Before I could say anything, she ran towards the others behind me to tell them the same thing she did to me. Since I didn’t have anything to do I decided to listen to her and get into the building in the back of the school. Actually, it seemed like a roof was meant to be built on the walls surrounding the area, but the project never seemed to lead to anything. As I entered through the red door like Chabashira said, I arrived into a place filled with downpipe… like a boiler room. The wire mesh on the ground had some grass on it and the whole place looked like a sci-fi post apocalypse. I wasn’t alone here, Gokuhara, Shirogane, Toujo and Hoshi were also there.  I approached them.

“So? What’s the big discovery?” I asked.

“This.” Simply said Hoshi while pointing at a big bronze circle on the ground.

I approached it there seemed to be some kind of logo on it.

“And what is it?”

I tried to lift it, but I suddenly noticed how much the thing was heavy. Really heavy. I stopped my attempts, panting due to the effort.

“It’s like a manhole.” Said Shirogane while looking at me, I tried to stay composed even if I knew I’ve just made myself look stupid.

I looked again at the circle.

“Seems right.”

As I said that the rest of us arrived in the “room”. Chabashira hold onto her knees and was catching her breath.

“Hey, are you alright?” Asked Ouma.

“Don’t… han… worry… I just ran everywhere to search… han… for everyone…” She replied.

“’kay but chill, you seem tired.” Said Amami.

“Nah nah… It’s alright see?” She lifted her back and stretched her arms up. “Alright!”

“Anyway, what’s your BIG discovery that you keep talking about?” Asked Yumeno.

 “Ah yeah you’re right.” Said Chabashira, she then stood next to the manhole and pointed it with her feet. “This.”

“So… What is this?” asked Momota.

“It’s a manhole isn’t it?” Said Yonaga.

“Excactly.” Replied Chabashira. “Now, please Gokuhara-san?”

Gokuhara sighed before approaching the manhole and… lifted the manhole cover like it was a scrap of paper. He then put it away.

“Holy shit man… How the fuck did you do that?” asked Momota.

“Hum… I’m strong?” said Gokuhara.

“Wait boys, as much as I’m impressed by Big chest strength too, there seems to be something way more interesting down there…” Replicate Iruma.

“Big chest?” Repeated Gokuhara, seemingly shocked by the nickname.

We ignored it and looked at what the manhole had let us see… a hole.

“So… It’s our way out of here?” asked Iruma.

We stayed silent. It was… way too easy to just be our exit. I gulped and approached the manhole. There was a ladder to help us get down into the darkness.

“There’s only one way to know.”

And with that I started to get down into the darkness When I finally felt the floor under my feet, I jumped from the ladder and stretched my arms and legs. From the corner of my eyes I could see that some of the others had get down too. I observed the place. It was pretty dark except from the area that was lightened by the light coming from the manhole. And more importantly, there was a giant round hallway on one wall of the room, I couldn’t see the end of it since it was in the complete darkness. But I could definitely see the obvious wood sign next to it where “Exit” was written.

You couldn’t make more obvious lie.

After a while, the most scared people of the group finally got down, and while they were rubbing their hands and legs due to the effort, I started checking the beginning of the hallway with Momota and Gokuhara. From the corner of my eyes I could see Gokuhara getting off his glasses and looking through the darkness.

“I can’t see anything.” He said, putting his glasses back on his nose.

“The entrance is made of metal, but the rest of the wall seems to be made of bricks.” Said Momota. “And what is even that?” He pointed at the sign.

“That’s a sign, duh.” Replied Iruma.

“Yes, but it seems way too obvious.” Said Toujo.

Ouma approached the sign and checked it. After checking it thoroughly he put it back and shook his head.

“Nothing weird with it, just a wood sign with ‘Exit’ written on it.” He said.

“That’s probably just the bears messing with us!” Replied Yumeno. “It’s obviously a trap!”

“You’ll never be sure until you check it.” I said.

I stomp a foot into the hallway.

“Who’s coming with me?”

“You’re going in there?!” Exclaimed Chabashira.

“Yes, but it’s probably best if some of us stay here to help in case. So only a few of us will go. So? Who wants to come?”

Ouma placed himself next to me.

“I’m coming! I’m curious about what’s going to be there.”

He took a look at Yonaga.

“I… prefer to stay here.”

“Yeah, I’m not coming there too!” Said Yumeno.

Hoshi, Momota and Gokuhara went next to me.

“At least we should try.” Said Hoshi, the other two nodded.

“I’ll stay here.” Said Amami. “From what I can see we’ll need boys here.”

“No need I’m staying here too!” Replied Chabashira. “To….” She seemed to search for an excuses. “Protect everyone in case anything happens.”

Iruma placed herself next to me too.

“Y’all are pussies that just won’t admit that they’re scared as fuck! Don’t worry Mommy’s in charge now.”

“I’m sorry Iruma-san but I’ll stay here too.” Said Kiibo.

“What?! Don’t leave alone!”

“You’re here now Iruma, you don’t move.” Said Momota.

“Fuck you!”

“I’ll stay here too.” Said Shirogane.

“I’m staying here too.” Said Toujo.

“Maki?” asked Shinguuji. She shook her head. “Then no. I’ll stay here too.”

I looked at Saihara, he was the only one who hadn’t talked.

“I’m… The one who said we should check for a way out. So, I’m coming! I won’t back down now!”

So, this was it. The exploration group was made of Momota, Hoshi, Gokuhara, Iruma, Ouma, Saihara and myself. Harukawa, Shinguuji, Toujo, Shirogane, Kiibo, Amami, Chabashira, Yumeno and Yonaga would stay here in case anything happened. We looked at the group that would stay here, nodded and walked into the darkness.

* * *

 

The air was getting heavier and heavier as we would walk in. And it was becoming darker each time that we would take a step. I turn my head to look at the others but beside Saihara who was walking next to me, I could barely see the others. We were walking in silent until Iruma decided to break it.

“Aaaaargh! Come on guys! Can someone just say something I feel like we’re going to our near death!”

“It’s not far from being it.” Replied Hoshi.

“Anyone beside Hosad?”

“I hope everyone is alright.” Said Gokuhara.

“Yeah.” Replied Momota.

“Do you hear that?” Suddenly said Saihara.

“Hear what?” Replied Momota.

“It’s like… water?” Said Ouma.

We kept walking and after a while I started to be able to hear it too. It was indeed water.

“I can hear it too now.” Said Momota. “Yeah, definitely water, but that’s logic isn’t it? We are under the boiler room.”

“Are… Are we still under the boiler room though?” Asked Ouma.

We were now completely in the dark. We could barely see our own feet at this point. The water sound was way more intense than before.

“We should have brought a flash light.” Mumbled Hoshi.

“Yes, it’s way too dark.” Said Momota. “Maybe we should hold each other? It would be bad to lost one of our members.”

I heard some movements that weren’t foot next to me and then I felt two different hands holding my arms.

“Who’s holding my arms right now?” I asked a little bit irritated.

“Sorry!” I heard Saihara and Ouma said at the same time.

“Nah I don’t mind, boys, I just wanted to check that it was you two.”

“Okay.” Said Saihara.

“Hoshi-kun is holding me too I think.” Said Ouma.

“So it’s you?” asked Hoshi.

“From the ass… I think it’s Sonic.” Suddenly said Iruma before we heard a yelled from Momota.

“WHAT THE FUCK GIRL?!”

“Just checking man, well, it’s better than nothing.”

“What? Me or my ass?!”

“You, you pervert.”

“You were the one who touched my ass!”

“Wait a moment…” This time we heard a yelled from Gokuhara. “Big chest found! I got the other two!”

“Why?!” Almost cried Gokuhara.

“Nice asses boys.”

“Can we stop talking about that?” Replied Hoshi, his voice clearly annoyed by the whole conversation.

“I agree.” I said.

“I’m glad I’m with you Hoshi-kun, Akamatsu-san.” Said Ouma.

“What?! Am I really a pain?!” Shouted Iruma.

“Kinda.” Replied Momota.

“You don’t matter.”

“Why so much hate?!”

“Stop shouting you guys!” Suddenly said Ouma.

Iruma and Momota shut their mouth and we kept walking. We kept walking for what felt like a long time, way too long actually. I could barely feel my feet.

“How long have we been walking?” I asked.

“I would say around half an hour.” Said Hoshi.

“That’s what I was thinking.” Said Saihara.

“I’m tired…” Complained Iruma.

“What did we say about shutting your mouth?” Replied Hoshi. We then heard Momota snorting. “It counts for you too Momota.” He stopped immediately. Whoah…. Hoshi had such authority… That was impressive.

“I think we’re near the end though…” Said Gokuhara. “I can see a small light.”

“If you say it like that… It sounds like we’re definitely going to die.” I replied.

But as soon as I said that I could see it too, a light shining in the very back of the hallway. We kept walking at the same pace and after some time we could see what it was. We stopped and let go each other’s arms or sleeves or… whatever. We were standing in front of a giant metallic door made of pipes. Ouma approached it and was looking for the lock. when he found it, he tried to push the doorknob. The door opened slowly while Ouma was pushing it. He stopped in the middle of it.

“Heavy, but unlocked.”

“We should rest a bit. We’ve been walking for at least an hour.” Said Hoshi.

Iruma replied by leaning against the nearest wall and sliding against it until she was sitting on the floor and let out a heavy sigh of relief. Ouma, Momota and Saihara did the same as well. Only Gokuhara, Hoshi and myself were still standing. I sat next to Saihara.

“Tired?” I asked.

“Yeah… It’s really long. But now I guess we are at the end of this path. At least I hope.”

“Me too.”

After we’d made sure everyone felt better, we tried to open the door together and accessed a path with enough lights to see properly. But we were more cautious this time. I was walking in front, when at a certain moment I stomped my feet and the floor open fed. I would have fallen if Saihara hadn’t caught my arm in time. I was positioned between Saihara and the now opened floor that was showing… water. I felt Saihara pulling me back on the ground and far away from the ground that was now going back to what it used to be.

“Guess we now know where the water comes from.” Said Momota. “Are you alright Akamatsu?”

“Yeah… I’m fine.”

I looked at the floor and stomped my feet again. Enough to feel if it was steady enough but not quite enough to make me fall. I looked at the distance between us and the other side of the ground. I took a few steps back, stretched my legs… and then ran a bit before jumping to the other side. I managed to get to the other side this time. I had to bend my legs when my feet touched the ground to be able to stand. After being sure that the floor wouldn’t open in front or under me, I stood and looked back at the others.

“So, what are you waiting for? I’m here to help you in case.”

They were all looking at me, their mouth slightly open in surprised. I could have laughed just from the scene in front of me but chose not to. Ouma was the first one to go. He jumped just like me and he almost fell into the water, but I caught him just in time as he almost fell on me. I took a step back to keep my balance and held him.

“Are you alright?” I asked him.

He looked back to me, and suddenly his face became bright red.

“I-I’m uh ah! I’m sorry!”

I let him go and he took a few steps towards one of the walls while stroking his hair mechanically, still completely red. What was that? I heard Hoshi landing next to me without any problem, followed by Saihara, then Iruma, Gokuhara and finally Momota.

“Will the whole path be like this?!” Asked Momota.

“Let’s find out.” Said Hoshi while continuing to walk.

Suddenly we heard a bouncing sound and when we turn around to look at our feet, we saw Monokuma.

“What are y’all doing here?!” He shouted angrily. “Are you stupid or what you are going to kill yourselves!?”

“It’s not what you wanted?” Replied Hoshi.

“Of course not! What fun would there be if you were just killed like that?! Go back to the entrance!”

“No.” I replied this time. “We made all our way here, and it’s not to back down now.”

The bear let out a long and annoyed groan.

“Fine! Do what you want!” And he disappeared.

We heard some noises further, unaware of what they were, we moved forward…

We were walking again, but this time we were even more careful. There were less traps than we’d thought, and we managed to get out of each of them without a scratch, most of the time. We kept moving at the same pace even though it was clear that we were way too tired to even be able to move. But the dangerousness of this place made us move forward, because who knows what would’ve happened if we hadn’t moved at all. But our feet hurt so much that we had to stop. We stopped between two traps.

“Do… we have to go through more? It’s way too… hard.” Asked Iruma.

“We have to! We need to find a way out of here!” Replied Momota.

“Besides, going back would be suicidal.” Said Ouma.

We looked back at where we came from. Even if we would be able to get through the traps again, I didn’t think we would be able to make the one hour and a half walk again. Besides that, we were almost at the end, I could feel it. And still, it was… impressive that we managed to get this far. Us, and our average physics. Well, Gokuhara helped a lot with his strength, Hoshi’s genius managed to foil even the worst traps, Saihara’s hearing avoided some tragic situations and I managed to get this far. We were a surprisingly good team.

From the corner of my eyes I could see Saihara gather speed for the last trap. I decided to do the same.

“Let’s do it.”

And in a last run we got through the last trap safely and got on the other side, at the end of the path.

We… completed it.

~~It felt like a complete joke. A perfect lie. It was easy, way too easy. Why? Why was it so easy for commoners like us when Ultimates weren’t able to do it?~~

* * *

 

We were standing in the middle of a room made of metal. Everything looked like it came from a sci-fi show. But most importantly, there was a giant door that seemed to scream to us “Hey, I’m the exit!”. It was hard to say anything when we had accomplished that kind of stuff, for high schoolers, managing to get through a path full of trap, and then arrive at the exit. It felt like a dream. Like a bad written fiction. Saihara took a few steps in front of us, approaching the door.

“We did it… We did it! We found the exit!” He turned to face us. “We did it! There was an exit!”

I could smile painting on each of our faces, except mine, as everyone gathered around the door.

“WAOOOOH!” Shouted Iruma. “Yes, yes yes YES!”

“Everyone will be so glad!” Said Gokuhara.

“We won’t need to kill each other!” Said Ouma.

“We can get out of here!” Said Momota.

They were all shouting their happiness while I was standing here, unable to move. No. No. That was… that was way too easy. There had to be a trap somewhere. The whole situation was grotesque. I… can’t believe any of it. Were we able to go… outside?

The noises that we heard after Monokuma had leaved came back into my head.

 “What’s happening Akamatsundere?” asked Iruma. “Why is you face so pale? Be happy we can get out of here!”

“Is… Is it really that easy?” I replied.

“Upupupupu… That’s right. That’s way too easy.” A voice we recognized all too well.

Suddenly Monokuma appeared amongst us, making us all take a step back.

“I’m really surprised that you managed to get through this minigame!” He said, all sweaty. “It was created in a way even people with talent couldn’t get through! I don’t even know how you were able to do all of this! Especially since you’re all just high schoolers!” I clenched my teeth. He's lying, he definitely did something earlier to make it easier for us. Suddenly his face became red with anger. “That’s why I can’t do things as I planned!”

“You can’t do anything to us anymore!” Said Momota. “Because were getting outta here!”

“Really? Upupupup… Upupupupu…”

I felt a drop of sweat flowing in my neck. I rushed towards what seemed to be the control panel of the giant door and pushed it. The screen lightened up and gave me access to some kind of menu. I clicked on the “open the exit” button. The screen displayed a message:

_You need the pass card to open the exit door._

I clenched my fists.

“Monokuma… Where is the pass card?”

“Huh? Which pass card?” He laughed naively.

“Akamatsundere…? What are you talking about?” asked Iruma.

I didn’t listen to her and grabbed Monokuma by his “neck” and lifted him up without resistance even if he was somehow heavy.

“I said, WHERE-IS-THE-PASS-CARD?”

“My my… You are talking just like Monodam. But do you know...” He smiled even wider than his usual expression. “That violence against the headmaster is prohibited?”

His red eyes started flashing. Guessing what would’ve happened if I let him go and throw him towards the trap and away from us, only a second after that he exploded. I could feel a hot breeze on my skin and see some metal pieces flying in all the possible directions.

“Is he… dead?” asked Ouma.

“No.” I replied as a new Monokuma appeared out of nowhere.

“Good guess Akamatsu-san! You deserve a 100/100! But minus 10 since you throw me, what kind of student do that to their teachers?!”

I was about to attack him again under some impulse, but Saihara’s hand on my shoulder stopped me. He was shaking his head in disapproval. Understanding what I was about to do I calmed down, remembering how he explode. Attacking him again was indeed a stupid idea. Saihara faced Monokuma.

 “A pass card?” Asked Saihara. “Is it some kind of key to get out of here?”

A silence install itself into the space. Then cut by Monokuma’s annoying laugh.

“Exactly! Even though you’ve made great effort you all, you can’t get outta here!”

It felt like a ton of bricks on our head had fallen at the exact same time he finished his sentence.

“No… It’s a lie. It has to be a lie!!!” Shouted Iruma.

She went to the giant door and slammed it with her fist but the only thing that happened is that she fall back due to an electroshock.

“Argh!”

“Iruma-san! Are you alright?!” Asked Ouma as he rushed to her.

“Yeah… But…”

“Whatever you try…” Continued the bear. “It’ll be useless. Because you are trapped. But you’ve made a great job at completing this minigame, I’m still honestly impressed, So here’s a little reward.” He lifted his paws with an evil smile plastered all over his face. “I’ll get you back to the beginning of the path, aren’t I’m just a nice headmaster?”

We looked at him with eyes widen in horror. We’ve made all those efforts just to get back to the beginning? At the same time, we were tired and didn’t knew if we would be able to get back to the entrance. And we couldn’t even get out because of the giant door.

“Why… Why can’t we go outside? We…” Began Saihara, grinding his teeth. “We managed to beat this ‘minigame’ like you call it, we’ve made all those efforts even though we are just commoners. Why?” He yelled his last sentence. “WHY US OUT OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD?!”

“Why?” Said Monokuma. “Well… Let’s just say that you are unlucky. That’s all!”

He laughed. I clenched my fists to avoid punching him again. My knuckles went white from the pressure.

“Maybe if you had talent I would have let you pass, but let’s be honest.” His red eyes glowed. “Who would miss people like you? You are just like ants: one or two dead wouldn’t change the world. Seriously, there’s way too many humans on this planet we should kill some of them!”

We could only watch the floor as he spoke the horrible truth. We were… disposable. Maybe even a pain to live. A glance at the others could tell me that they were thinking the exact same thing as me: We are worthless. Suddenly the Exisal appeared, probably to pick us up to the other side of the path.

“Pops, you call us didn’t ya?” Said Monosuke inside the yellow exisal.

“Holy shit!!!” Shouted Monokid inside the blue exisal. “I never fucking thought they would beat that minigame!”

“My adorable little kubs!” Said Monokuma, clearly happy to see his childrens while we were staring at the ground, eyes blank. “Could you take the student on the other side? Actually no. Nevermind. Not ‘could’, you ‘will’ take them to the other side!”

“Daddy is so cool… Of course we will do it!” Replied Monophanie.

Before we could do anything, I felt one of the mechanical hand grabbing me by the waist and lifting me up. It didn’t really hurt and honestly, in this situation I was okay with everything. I was too tired to comply, and I let myself be taken to the beginning of the path, lifted by the Exisal. Sometimes I checked to see the others, but they were as silent as me. Just looking in front of them as the Exisals were running way faster than we did. I crossed my arms on the “fingers” of the mechanical hand and put my head in it. Waiting to arrive. It didn’t take long, we had taken around 2 hours to get to the exit, but the Exisals only took 30 min to get back to the beginning. I lifted my head as I saw the entrance. The others were waiting for us, already pretty worried, but they got even more nervous when they saw us in the hands of the Exisal. Some of us got up and ran. Others just stood there, too afraid to approach the Exisals. Suddenly the Exisals stopped, and the hand that was holding me dropped me and I fell on the ground, I hit the ground with all of my body. I could already feel where I would have bruises. I tried to get up slowly and hardly but managed to get on my feet. I heard the ones that didn’t get to the other side screaming out our names in worry. And I felt a hand on my shoulder. I lifted my head to meet Amami’s gaze.

“Akamatsu-san, are you alright?”

“Totally fine, I’m like a flower that just bloomed.” I replied in a sarcastic manner.

“Do you at least need help?”

“Nope.” I replied as I stumbled to sit against the nearest wall next to the others.

“Did you find an exit?” He asked when I sat down.

I could only look at my feet in front of me. I breath in to respond but Saihara did for me.

“Yes.”

“Really?!” Exclaimed Yonaga. “Then we can…!”

“But…”

I could see their faces tensing.

“It was closed.” Added Iruma.

I saw Yumeno clenching her fists. “What? Are you kidding me?!”

“I told you… There is an exit. But it’s fucking closed.” Replied Iruma, visibly too tired to shout.

“We tried to open it but…” Said Hoshi.

“We couldn’t.”  Finished Gokuhara.

“You’ve been here for almost 3 hours! And you’re telling me that’s all you could do?!” Shouted Yumeno angrily.

“Listen to me.” I cut her off before anyone could talk. Everyone went silent. “We walked in the dark for around an hour, then tried to go past a path full of traps where we nearly died, and when we got to the end, we were facing a giant metal door. We tried to open it. I tried to open it. But Monokuma made us understand that it was impossible. Listen. We tried everything we could at the moment, because we were tired. You just have to look at us right now.”

I closed my eyes as I finished my speech. I was… honestly tired. It was really sudden, but it was true. I heard small cries not far away from me. It seemed it was Yonaga’s one.

“Then… we really are trapped here? We can’t do anything but…. but….?”

She didn’t need to say it out loud to know that we all knew what she was talking about. I stared at her with hollow eyes. I saw her eyes filling with tears before she blinked once, causing the tears to roll over her cheeks. She fell to her knees, holding her heart, like it was the only thing that was left of her and cried. She cried. She screamed and cried. It didn’t take too long to feel my own eyes welling up with tears too.

“Fuck… Fuck…!”

I heard Iruma crying. I heard Ouma trying to hold back his tears. I saw Saihara trying to hide his tears with his cap. And before I noticed it, almost all of us were crying. All crying, because of our failure. So, that was it? We sold our blood, sweat and tears for that? For ending up unable to do anything but to follow those stupid rules. I told myself that I would enjoy this game, but in the end, knowing that there wasn’t a second option to it was… probably what despair really felt like. So we are going to…?

“So that’s it? You’re all just going to whine?” Said Yumeno suddenly.

“What? You didn’t understand? We can’t get out.” Replied Momota.

“Yeah… But…” She seemed to search for her words. “Don’t you want to do more than just crying because you didn’t achieve something?”

We looked at each other. “Is there anything else we can do?” Asked Iruma.

Yumeno smirked. “You bet. This school is big, just like you said Akamatsu. There’s a lot to discover.”

“What’s the point?” Asked Hoshi.

“To do something, duh! But for now, I think we need to rest. The exploration group doesn’t seem to be in a state in which they can do anything.”

“I agree.” I said.

“I see.” Said Hoshi. “Then we will rest and explore the school tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” I got up. “Let’s just get outta here, this place makes me feel sick.”

I approached the ladder and using the little last of my strength I climbed it. When I got out, the sky was already dark, and we could see some stars. After a while the other got out of the manhole. After discussing what should we do about it, we decided that it would be best if we closed it. Gokuhara took the metal plate and put it back on the manhole. No one could get back in now.

“So… what are we doing now?” asked Shirogane.

“I’m tired, I’m going to sleep.” Said Iruma.

“You’re going in those dorms?!” Exclaimed Momota.

“Where do YOU want to sleep excactly?”

“You’re right. It’s better than nothing.”

And with that we all agreed to go to the dorms, even with Amami disapproval, he was following us anyway. After a while we finally arrived and everyone get into their rooms with a small “good night”. I looked around me and saw Saihara. He seemed quite hollow for an unknown reason, probably due to his tiredness. I took him apart.

"Saihara, are you alright?"

"Yeah... Don't worry too much about it. We should sleep now if we want to explore the school tomorrow like... Yumeno-san proposed..."

“Don’t think to much about what happened okay?” I said. He turned his head towards me and nodded before going into his rooms.

I also entered my room. I was too exhausted to look around my room and fell onto the bed immediately. It only took me a few minutes to fall asleep.

 

**-MONOKUMA THEATER-**

Thanks for starting to read this fanfiction!

We are really glad that you managed to read those awful 2 first chapters! (Well... edited now...)

But as a little reminder this fanfiction will spoil the integrality of New Danganronpa V3 Killing Harmony.

As such we would prefer if you played the whole game beforehand or watched a playthrought.

Also this fanfiction will contain reference to the original game, try to find them!

New Danganronpa V3 Killing Harmony was made by…

Huh?

What?

What is happening?

Wh>t !s th& m&>n!ng of th!s?

Vvh#t ¨s…?!

…

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Process complete.

 **MONOCHATROOM** is now opened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was long ! Well, shorter than the prologue but still long ! I hope the lack of narration didn't disturb anyone, my writing style is more around the dialogues but I still think I should've but more narration. Again a big thanks to @spot-the-main-character for being my beta-reader ! And I hope to see you all for the next chapter! Bye-onara !


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